The image on Flickr (https://flic.kr/p/YuYMNa) is much more true to my original processing (it has an orange cast, not the weird E.T.-green you see above). Haven’t noticed this issue on this forum before. Hm…

But of course, I am posting for critique of the image, so please critique 🙂

Colors notwithstanding, I’m struggling to understand what the image is about. I see the rear torso of a woman with her hands on her hips but don’t really understand the message that’s being conveyed, if there is one. What do you see in it that prompted you to post it?

Aesthetically, I like the “body as frame” that creates the strong lines, triangles, etc. It’s also got visually rhyming elements like the lush hair with the bouquet of flowers, the metal rings around the wrists and those in the purse straps, the white of the lacquer nails and the hard surface of the flower stand, etc. And in the correctly colored version, the bright flowers contrast with the relative drabness of the woman’s clothing.

Psychologically and emotionally, the woman is conveying meaning through her personal style and gesture—we can get an idea of her personality by her done-up nails and hair and hands on her hips, even though we can’t see her face. So she’s kind of mysterious and familiar at the same time.

The bright flowers echo back the femininity that might be compromised by her stance and drab green shirt and rigid purse strap. But at the same time, she’s rocking a look through her nails, hair, and jewelry that says she’s a “window” into natural beauty—just like her arm is a window into the natural beauty of the flowers.

Because of all these things, for me the image shimmers between the lackluster and the sensuous. The woman and the flowers take turns foregrounding each other as the “bright spot” in the image.

Did I think about any of this when I shot this image? No, I just followed my instinct to shoot what caught my eye and tried to frame it up in an interesting way. But going through my shots for that day this one jumped out, and looking at it carefully I realized there were lots of details—intentional and unintentional—that resounded with me in different ways.